The present Gyalwang Drukpa is the twelfth incarnation of the founder of the Drukpa Lineage, Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211). The successive reincarnations of the Drogon Tsangpa Gyare are recognized as the Spiritual Head of the Drukpa Lineage and responsible for the spiritual guidance of over 800 Drukpa Monasteries, in Tibet, Nepal, Ladakh, Garsha Kinnuar and other parts of the Indian Himalyas. 
Drukpa Mexico !
Mexico in His Holiness´ Footsteps
May, 28th 2009
Drukpa Mexico Long Life Prayers for His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa in Maratika on April 16th 2009
Inspired by His Holiness’s blog on his recent walking pilgrimage to Maratika, a group of 7 Drukpa Mexico Sangha members went to Maratika cave the day after ADC successfully ended.
Most of us were flying back home on April 18th so we had planned to rush to Maratika in a day and a half just to be able to be where HH had been recently with his nuns and where he had stayed for a long retreat.
We booked the only flight available from Kathmandu to Lamidanda which has the nearest landing strip to Maratika. We then arrived only to realize that we didn’t have a ride to Maratika cave which is 3 hours away. Time was running out, we had to get there before dark in order to get back the next morning, catch the returning flight and then leave for our country.
We remembered how HH and nuns had walked all the way from Kathmandu so in many ways our worry was nothing. We finally found a truck which agreed to take us all up there, wait the night and bring us back the next day.
All along the ADC we had been hearing H.E. Kyabje Khamtrul Rinpoche´s concern for His Holiness’s health and long life so our main purpose was to dedicate the merits of our small pilgrimage to His long and healthy life. During the journey on the truck on the way to Maratika and on the way back we chanted HH long life prayers nonstop.
We arrived in Maratika before dark and thanks to a map that Helga had kindly drawn for us, we were able to hike to HH sacred cave when a slight rain began falling, what a blessing! We found the small cave, we all climbed up the fragile ladder and all 7 of us sang Tashi Gyepa, Calling our Lama from Afar and Long Life prayers for some time.
We climbed down almost at dark when rain and thunder began roaring. It was a very moving experience, to be able to be in that tiny yet very blessed cave for some little time.
That night a bit before midnight a Lama found us and offered to give us a night tour of the main caves. It was one of the most wonderful experiences to be able to hike at night, discovering where Guru Rinpoche and Mandarava had accomplished the long life practice and many sacred imprints left by him. There we offered incense for HH long life praying in front of the holy rock/vase.
Long Life prayers, khatas, candles in Bhutan, Darjeeling & Sikkim
A few of us were fortunate enough to be able to extend our pilgrimage to other holy places like Bhutan, Darjeeling and Sikkim and therefore dedicate the merits of it all to HH long life. In Membartso which is the holy river/lake where Pema Lingpa discovered a terma, we hung prayer flags and khatas, lit candles and did countless malas of HH long life prayer.
In Bumthang there is an iron vest made by Pema Lingpa which weighs 40 kilos, the story says that if you wear it on your back and do Kora of the small gompa 3 times, make a wish, the wish comes true. Of course we wore it making Kora while doing HH long life prayer, the wish has to come true!
Everywhere we went, hours and hours of driving through the wonderful Drukpa pure land of Bhutan we did countless malas of long life prayer. (Sorry we cant say how many malas because at the time we didn’t know we were going to be asked to report it on the web.)
From there we continued the pilgrimage in company of Lama Jigme to many sacred sites in Sikkim like Guru Padmasambhavas holy cave where we lit butter lamps and left a khata. Tashiding monastery, doing Kora at the holy stupa and reciting long life prayers.
At the sacred Padmasambhava Khecheopairi lake we had an unbelievable experience, Lama Jigme asked us to write HH name on the khatas we left there, then we lit some candles and sang HH long life prayer and it began raining yet after 20 minutes of heavy rain, the candles were still all burning.
At DoDrub Chorten and Gompa we lit many butter lamps for HH and Kyabje Khamtrul Rinpoche and did Kora reciting the long life prayer.
In Delhi we found an incense called “Yatra” which we thought was very auspicious so we bought some boxes and sent them as an offering to HH during the walking pilgrimage.
On May 9th, Dükhor Düchen, we had to fly back to Kathmandu, to catch our connecting flight so upon arrival that night we ran to Boudanath stupa to join in the wonderful Kora and butter lamp offering wishing our prayers would multiply for the long life of HH.
Dükhor Düchen in Mexico
In Mexico City while the pandemia of the swine flu was at its peak, Drukpa Mexico sangha members got together to do Shower of Blessings practice and dedicate all the merits to the long and healthy life of our beloved Guru.
In Drukpa Mexico we are very few, our understanding is not much, we live on the other side of the planet and many times we don’t even know which is the appropriate practice or ritual we should be doing, needless to say we don’t even know how to do them properly.
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